ah, summer in the city

We spent the last week in Chicago which was blissful, because I had nothing scheduled every day and spent at least a couple hours every day (sometimes much more than a couple) getting shit done. Took a lot of lovely walks down pretty streets, most with Loopy who is all about exercisin' these days. It was great all around!

Spending time in the easy-care apartment makes me resent, a little, the burden of dealing with a whole damn house. I know, I know, lots of people would kill for a whole damn house, but it's a pain in the ass after a while... my "to do" list is as long as my arm and everywhere I look there's something else to add to it. Ugh.

So anyway, it's finally warm in our part of the world and last week was very warm, so all the windows were open, and I got re-acquainted with the low constant cacophony of city noises that drift in those open windows...dogs barking, cars honking, trains passing, machinery working, a/c rattling, footsteps and snatches of conversation as people walk past below.

So one morning R and I were, uh, getting busy and suddenly a voice said "Hi!"--right in the room it seemed. We both just about jumped out of our skins. But she was downstairs in the alleyway. That was funny.

It also reminded me of when our dear friend Carol lived three floors below us in our apartment building in Manhattan. The windows opened onto a narrow airshaft between our building and the next, and you could hear all the sounds from all the apartments on both sides... every time I hear "Back on the Chain Gang" I think of the anonymous person who blasted that song at top volume every time s/he was cleaning his/her apartment, or needed to get going in the morning, or, well, a lot. There was also the couple I called the cops on several times... my only problem was I could never identify where they were. "They're either in our building or the next one... uh... can you hurry?" Yeah, sure, to some building or other, that's so helpful, we'll be right there.

So anyway, one Saturday afternoon we ran into Carol in the elevator and she smirked at us and said, "Were you guys having sex this morning at about...uh...10:30?" Uh, yes......We all had a good laugh.

Ah yes, summer in the city. No privacy... and you get used to it.